Squid nanoparticles used to fight liver cancer

Chitosan
nanoparticles prepared from the cartlilage of a marine squid can protect rats
against liver cancer, a new study reveals1. These could potentially be
used for treating liver cancer in humans.

In search of
a safe therapy for liver cancer, scientists from the Annamalai University,
Tamil Nadu,synthesized chitosan nanoparticles from the internal ‘bone’ of a
marine squid. They then injected male rats with N-diethylnitrosoamine, a carcinogen which
causes liver tumours.The carcinogen exposure increased
the levels of specific marker enzymes in the liver and serum of the rats.

Treating the
rats with the nanoparticles before and after exposure to the carcinogen reduced
the levels of the marker enzymes. Exposure to the carcinogen significantly
reduced the levels of albumin and serum bilirubin, but the nanoparticles reversed
this.

Nanoparticles
also increased the levels of antioxidant enzymes that protected liver cells in
carcinogen-exposed rats. They also increased
good cholesterol levels.

Exposure to
the carcinogen triggered lipid peroxidation, a harmful biochemical process that
kills liver cells, but that process was slowed by the nanoparticles.